Rosh Hashanah with friends Rabbi Yaakov and Bracha Levanon
Today is the day after Rosh Hashanah, Monday, September 8th. Batsheva is sitting next to me and playing with a pencil. First of all I will tell you about Rosh Hashanah. We had a very very nice Rosh Hashanah, we were with Bracha and Yaakov (Lebanon, friends and neighbors of Eli and Dina from Makor Baruch) I agreed with Bracha that I would cook at least half of the food and I did not want to stay in our house because it is so messy and so crowded, but we stayed there because the people Living there now, where we lived, traveled and allowed us to sleep there. I felt it was good that we came because Bracha had the flu and she had very very strong pains, but I was good and helped her take care of her children and cook and everything. I really enjoyed it. I do not know, I felt very good. I felt very good and strong and it was nice to have all the kids. It was a nice holiday.
[Batsheva: "Mother"] Batsheva dropped something. Give me a moment to refer to her [Mother: 'Where? What fell? What fell? '] A seven-year-old girl is so cute. I'm going to try to get her to talk. Now that she's next to me she's ashamed, but she walks around the house screaming and screaming and when I get out of bed she shouts "Ai su, su, su" is what she's shouting. [Mom: "Right?"] She wants to eat the microphone. Now that it's over
I just got back from the doctors and I have to go every two weeks. I do not know. I guess everything's fine. I have some ... my blood pressure is not very high, but I do everything he said to do, even today he gave me some kind of medicine that I must go and collect it. I feel fine, I'm really fine. Hope everything is fine I do not worry about it.
Moving apartment from Ramat Magshimim in the Golan Heights to Mevaseret (study work at the March Kollel and residence at the Absorption Center)
The most important thing, and how could I even leave it until now, tomorrow finally, finally, finally we will move into our new apartment. The lawyer took care of everything and everything is ready and we will move into an apartment. This is a very very nice apartment. I told you, right? That I was there to see it last week and I was so surprised that everyone gave me the impression ... Eli gave me the impression that it was a smaller apartment and I did not care anymore - as long as I had a place to live.
Eli said it was not a very big apartment and not very nice, and I saw the apartment and I was so shocked. I was so surprised. This is really a beautiful apartment. It has a backyard and a front yard. Small front yard. And enough space for us to stay there for sure, and it's very convenient and I'll tell you why. First of all, it's right next to a bus stop, it's very close to the bus station, a bus passes every half hour and you know exactly when it's about to arrive, so you leave a little before the bus is supposed to arrive. It's not like in Jerusalem where you can wait, or the bus arrives immediately, or you can wait half an hour for the bus to arrive. And this specific bus goes straight to the city, straight into the city and right to the market. its very comfortable.
Hopefully soon we can ... In the next two days we can rent a van. There will probably be a cheaper way to do it, but I guess it's the safest way and just to get everything already there. And we'll bring all our stuff including the piano and probably we can ... this apartment comes furnished, but we asked that ... they did not want to give us, people they do not cost, a lot of furniture, and it's okay for us because we have our own furniture, we do not have to Their beds and do not need the kitchen furniture. It even comes with a fridge and gas that we do not need, but they said from the reception center: "If you want something, then ask." There is a possibility that they will rent us some furniture, but in the end they got confused with the management and said: The furniture, choose what you like and then put the rest in the warehouse. "Anyway, we seem to be able to get a sofa. I do not know how much it's worth, I did not see the furniture and chairs. Then we will have a real living room. Piano and furniture. I guess it will be nice and we We will be right next to our good friends. Our houses together. One side of them is connected and the backyard is a very low fence but it separates us. We can make a garden there and the children can play outside, which is very convenient. And from the kitchen there is also a small balcony. I try to describe to you, But you will see it soon.
Dina's worries about her uncle Yasul - helpless in the country
Let me see what else I need to tell you. Yesul went to the convalescent home for Rosh Hashanah. It's like a resting place. It has no good connotations when said in English. It's a place you go to like the hotel where you rest. I do not know. It's near Haifa where he went.
Isul always feels depressed and lonely around Rosh Hashanah and he said he has not been feeling well lately. He just got over the flu and has friends there and it turns out we have a last name. Relatives of the Sarid family [Yossi Sarid from Mapam], I think he said. And he wanted to run away, so I was happy. I think it's a fantastic idea, he needs to get away and he needs to do some hiking in this area. This is a lovely area. I've never been to Haifa, but I heard it's nice. And he needs to meet people and get away a little full from a cousin, which is part of his situation. Also, that was part of his intention. And I told him he was invited to us for Rosh Hashanah, but he said: "No" he does not want. I do not know. Once we get along, I'll get it, especially when you're here. So I do not know, he said he has a 10-day order. He left a little before Yom Kippur, a few days before Rosh Hashanah. Yesul said he does not have to stay all the time, if he gets bored, or if he does not like it, then I did not hear from him, tomorrow I will call his work and see if he comes back.
Admiration for the garden in America and the art in Grandpa Manny's stained glass
So what else do I need to tell you? How was your Rosh Hashanah? Where have you been? what did you do? Did you have a family dinner? I do not know how many families really stayed there. Oh, that reminds me. Thank you so much for sending me all the photos and magazines and articles, and I was especially excited to receive the photos you took, because first of all, I was so surprised that the backyard has changed so much, so much since I last saw it. I do not believe there are different trees and tall trees, from what I have seen. And the stained glass windows that Dad made, are really beautiful Dad, really well done. I keep staring at them and I can not even fathom how you made the challah and the tablecloth. It seems so complicated. I have to look at it again. Eli also tried to figure it out. We need to look at it again. Your garden looks beautiful, really beautiful.
Longing for the garden of Eli and Dina who have just left the Golan
It reminds me .. every letter you write about the garden, makes me jealous, I wish you would see our garden it was also beautiful, we had plants that are taller than me. We had huge tomato plants, we had such huge tomatoes before we left. At the height of the season, we did not manage to pick them all. We left in the middle of the season, but what we did pick was huge and we got so much. Dozens and dozens and dozens, Eli said they were good species is very. Anyway, right before we went out, we chose everything we could, even though they were not completely ripe, they were so big, they were like grapefruit, the tomatoes. And we brought the tomatoes in buckets and all kinds of boxes, we brought them with us to Jerusalem and distributed to all our friends and the whole family. We also gave everyone cherry tomatoes. I loved them even more, they were delicious. I liked that they were a little sour. Anyway, they were really fantastic.
And the flowers you saw pictures of, are not amazing? I really miss them. And the cucumbers, too, we had very huge, very crispy cucumbers at first, but towards the end, I think they all just died. I do not know, maybe Eli did not take care of them so well. And the mumble and the watermelon and the rest of the things. I hope someone takes care of it now and benefits from it. We really just had to plant and take care of things, but profit from others ... oh well. This time in this place I also want to make a vegetable garden. I hope it works out, even though there's enough time to think about it until spring, so I guess I'll be busy. I do not know. seen.
Batsheva's first steps
What else can I tell you? Batsheva plays with Uri, she especially loves Uri. She loves everyone except me, I think, lately she's not so fond of me. I do not know why, I guess because I take her to bed and change her diapers .. For fun she has a lot of fun with her uncles, but as soon as we get back to living in our own house, I will put things in order. She will love me again. What else could I tell you? I can talk about Batsheva on the whole tape, she's really cute and she hangs out all over the house. You know, you wanted her to take her first steps, well, I do not really know. She really never had first steps. For about a week she walked and maybe stepped and fell. You really could not even know she was walking, she would move from one chair to the table, and she would fall on the table and it was like a step in the middle, but even though she did it, she never did it when we wanted her to do it, she never did the This is when you raise your hands up. She always did it ... I caught her doing it privately when you're not around she's like a perfectionist. She never falls. She does nothing if she thinks she will fall. She waits until she masters it and then she does it as a princess. I used to see her walking here, she did not know I was seeing, but I saw her because on the door was the glass and she was reflective. She got along, but as soon as I went out and wanted her to go, she did not do it. Then suddenly one day she crossed the house and since then she has not stopped walking.
It's so funny, she's really so cute. I took her to the park one day and photographed her walking. The camcorder, for some reason, does not work at all. I was sure I knew how to operate it and studied the instructions carefully, and then when I went to take pictures nothing happened. I do not know what I did wrong. I was so disappointed, but luckily I had a stills camera, for all it was worth and since it ran out of film, I bought an Israeli film, I hope it came out as good as a Kodak. There was no Kodak, they only had these, but it seems to me that they too are Americans.
Anyway, I took pictures and they are very cute and Batsheva was so funny. She is very, very busy with her walking, and while she is walking she is talking. She talks all day, non-stop. All kinds of blah, blah, chatter and screams and sometimes she screams so loud. She has something new now that she's screaming. I do not know, she sounds scared and you think the worst thing happened, and you run to the room and she stands there radiant, really proud of herself. I'll try to catch it later on the tape, at the moment I think someone is feeding it. Look, it's pretty annoying to me, they feed her day and night, and I guess that's probably a feature of grandparents, but I do not like it because she's really fat.
The picture you sent me, it was still not very fat. She used to be very very thin and very small and then suddenly she started to gain weight and she looks fine, like the pictures you saw, but she keeps getting fatter and bigger and she has big round face and double chin and big belly and fat and fat rolls everywhere. Maybe it's cute, and maybe that's how it's supposed to be, and maybe it's okay for a baby, but at least if I was supervised, if I was the boss here, she would not eat now, I do not care she's hungry. I'll give her fruits and vegetables to eat, but they, even before she asks, they give her a cracker, a cookie, all kinds of drinks. I do not know, maybe I'm picky. I do not know, but anyway, I do not want her to be fat, even though she's very, very cute.
Her hair is suddenly lengthening, I did not notice it until I saw the pictures you sent, her hair was so short and now it is so long. It keeps falling on her face. Her hair seems to fall naturally into a bangs. I keep combing it to the sides and I bought her something for her hair. that's SO cute. And it's long, it's getting into ... it's not very long it makes curls. I do not think it is naturally curly but she falls asleep like that. See if it gets a little longer, I can see better. Her hair is light brown, a kind of copper color. And when she's in the sun it's really beautiful. It's a beautiful color. And her eyes are brown. And when she smiles, she's so funny and she has one little tooth, which has not yet fully grown, but she manages to eat very well. She eats a cob of corn and all kinds of cookies and crackers, all kinds of things you would not believe.
The comparison with the Levanon & Volanski children
When we were with the Lebanon family on Rosh Hashanah, we could compare her to Elijah [Lebanon], you remember he was born a week after her and they are so different. First of all, Elijah is much less developed than she is in terms of motor, gait and things. He's not walking yet and he's barely standing. He was always undeveloped in that sense, I do not know why, because Moishela [Wolanski, his cousin], if you remember, Moishela was about seven years old when you were here, mother, and he was very, very developed. I remember he used to understand everything and almost talk And he even went before he was a year old. He was really ... much more than even Batsheva, he must have been something special. But Elijah anyway, not like that, but he evolved in other ways. He's so different. I do not know, he is a very cute kid, he has blond hair and brown, brown eyes. And he's really thin. When she was there I really saw how fat she was. He's skinny, really skinny, he can do a lot with his body and everything, and she's pretty much going back and forth, but he's also really cute.
They did not play that much together. I guess at this age, they have so little to do with each other, each kind of playing alone. Batsheva, whenever there was something she wanted, she took it from him. And he did not take it back. Bracha (his mother) said .. and Elijah looked at Batsheva and looked at Bracha and looked at Batsheva and started crying. It was very cute. Moishela is already two and a half years old and he's talking and he's already like a little kid, but he's really cute, he's really smart and Yocheved has very cute LEDs, anyway, it makes me excited and I have no patience to wait another six and a half months.
The neighbors downstairs where we once lived a little boy was born about two weeks ago, so I went to visit them too, and he's really cute. Their parents are from Morocco or Iraq, Eastern countries, and he is so thin, he is brown with black hair, he looks so oriental, I was so excited to see him.
The Judith Kleinspiz twins
Hayla, the youngest daughter of Judith [Kleinpiz], is a big girl. Remember she was always great. When you saw her she was a really cute baby, now she's almost two years old, about a year and nine months and she's cute. I do not know. Yesul says she's not as cute as she was when she was a little baby, but I can not see it, to me she is very cute and has such a nice character, like Judith, she is very sensitive and kind of crying and very very sweet.
And the two twins, I can not get over it every time I think she has twins. I saw them when they were only a few days old, I saw them in the hospital. The boy is blond, like Judith. He is blond with white hair. Lots of hair, but white. That's all I can say about him, because otherwise he looks like a little baby. And the girl looked just like him, except she has black hair, but who knows what it will be. Anyway, they were fine and everything, but they were born small, so keep them in the hospital until they reach a certain weight, which should be in the next few days, but in a sense it is good for Judith because she has two weeks to rest and prepare for them. I told you, she did not know she would have twins. They never found out.
I read an article where this happens very often, almost a third of the time. They never know. They can not describe that you have twins. They usually describe hearing two heartbeats, but if one is lying in a certain position above the other, then they do not hear that second heartbeat, which is what happened to it. Just before she gave birth, 15 minutes before she went into labor, they told her they thought she had twins. It was a shock, because at that time she did not even know she had twins at all. Then, her mother told her that her grandmother was a twin or her great-grandmother, or something, but before that she did not know. Can you imagine? She is very happy. They are both very happy and excited about it, and so is everyone else.
Let me see. Now I have to start being stressed that the recording will end, huh?
Temporary residence with Horowitz
We seem to be leaving Horowitz's house just in time. What I mean is that any time, as early as it can be, will be just in time, we've been here so long. We were here for about half a week and then we were in Mevaseret for a while, and then we have been here for two weeks. It is very difficult when you are not in your own home. Very hard for me, even though they are very good and there is no stress and everything, but still, I do not know, it gets on my nerves a bit. But nothing, it's okay, I guess it's pretty ideal and it's lucky we have in-laws who are willing to host us. I guess even for them it must be harder than for me, and the next day Frida and my uncle, Rabbi Horowitz's sister and her husband from Chicago, come with their daughter. Their daughter will come to study at the gates of justice to be a nurse, and they come to visit for a few weeks. So for a while, they'll stay here, and then the day after they come, Hillel Horowitz, Leah Horowitz's nephew (Eli's mother) will come. I guess he'll want to stay here too, so there's a lot of company. Including all holidays. You know, for the holidays they are never home, they go to a yeshiva, Rabbi Horowitz prays with his students, so he goes around and that, and moves people around, so it was good to be out of it. Shortly after Sukkot Tovi will return, about the same time you come. Did she contact you? I asked her, but maybe she forgot, she is very busy traveling and visiting people and of course shopping. But you do not have to apologize for not having money ...
[Dad: Seven years old, say something to the tape recorder. How does a dog do? 'Now she would say nothing. 'How do you make a horse? Batsheva Where's Grandpa? nothing. Who is? David D....
The development of Batsheva
When Shabbat Sheva sees the tape recorder she is more interested in playing with the buttons and eating the microphone. She's really good now. She plays with toys, I think toys must be very important to her. It's like reading and learning, and I try to buy her all kinds of educational toys and I try to make it harder for her to a level harder than her, because it just frustrates her when she can do it, it's not a new game for her so it does not interest her anymore, but recently I did not buy her Nothing, but I really want to bring her some basic toys, blocks and stuff like that, I do not really know. I guess I should buy a book about this or something. I see that Bracha and Moishela have all kinds of toys and so many games to play with, but even she has a lot of toys. And the books she loves, it's such a treasure to see the way she comes when she wants me to read to her from a book, but she's not so interested in reading the book, she wants to see the pictures and turn the pages. Its part is to turn pages. Not even all approx Like looking at the pictures, she likes to turn pages, but still, it's nice that she's interested in books and everything.
Uri has a lot of books in English, he has a lot of things and everyone is asleep so I do not care if she tears the pages, but we bought her some nice Hebrew children's stories and kept them, I guess, when she grows up. Oh yeah, the tape is really running out now.
In Mevaseret everything will be better
What am I supposed to tell you? Eli studies until late at night. It's one of the bad things here, I do not see him during the day, but I'm busy enough, so for the forerunner I'll see him, he's able to go home.
Oh, this is what I started to tell you: in Mevaseret it will be very easy for me, because Eli will study [including kollel] and he will be able to go out later in the morning and come back for lunch and take a nap, then go back to study and come home in the evening, then do all the programs he has in the evening. Every night is something different, sometimes it's classes he does not want to miss and sometimes it's different activities, so it seems very comfortable there. I'm really waiting to get in at last. I just hope that by the time you all come we'll be fine. It's my goal that by the time you come everything will be done, every nail in place. The pictures will hang, but even if they do not, it does not matter. We'll be there and that's the important thing.
Let me see what else I need to tell you.
The house in the Pagi neighborhood, that Eli and Dina bought before they got married
You asked me in one of your letters, why if the man who rents our apartment, if he is not there anyway, why can we not go in and live there, well, the reason is that according to the contract, and any contract, if you rent an apartment from someone, it's your main house We really had no way to get in there without his permission. He was very nice, I guess, although I do not know why he would not agree, but he was nice to let us put all our stuff there because it takes up two rooms, but he's a little weird anyway. Although he did not live there, he would not give us permission. He was afraid he would be messed up or ruined, even though we told him no, anyway, so that's the right thing to do. We'll have to wait until he leaves, he probably does not want to leave before his contract ends, so we'll have to wait until he leaves before we can start working there, fix it, but it should not be a problem, Eli will get some friends to help him and they will fix the place a bit And we'll fix it again next year.
I do not know, I told you we had problems ?! Maybe I did not tell you, because I did not want to tell you as long as it lasted. Oh, that was so scary. Actually, it was not ... I knew everything would work out in the end. We took out a loan, as every Israeli does to buy a house. Like I said, when you buy a house here, you have to pay cash. A house here now costs £ 250,000. No one has a quarter of a million pounds in a bank account just like that. The houses here are very expensive, so there are all sorts of plans through the government, so I had special benefits, a special type of loan. Our apartment cost us "only" £ 88,000 and we got a £ 60,000 loan from Tefahot Bank that every month we had to pay a few hundred pounds for 17 years with very low interest rates, so we were able to buy the apartment.
Anyway, we paid every month ... in fact, Eli paid a year ahead of time. We thought, "Well, if we have the money ..." We saved money, we paid it ... [tape ended].
Continuation of this recording is talk of Bernice - Dina's mother, and of Brian and Stanley - her brothers
Comments